Sunday, September 02, 2007

1) The Fug Girls are off to NYC to cover Fashion week for the otherwise pointless New York Magazine. The girls are always a pleasurable read (in a celebrity-schadenfreude kind of way) and they will make their way into places that they are totally not invited and write about it. Those are my kind of girls.2) Neiman Marcus has gifted me with what appears to be a WWD (Women's Wear Daily) special issue. How do I know? Because it says Special Milestone Issue on the cover silly! The glossy is dedicated to Neiman Marcus' 100th anniversary and contains some fabulous historical photos, a preview of fall fashions, both ridiculous and sublime and congratulatory ads from many of the important design houses. Neiman is opening a new store in Natick just a week after the Nordstrom opening - I am in über-fashion overload in my own suburban paradise.

The best part of the mag - the last page. Neiman Marcus has battled the "Chocolate Chip Cookie" letter and email chain for many years. For those of you without friends who forward THINGS YOU SHOULD BE OUTRAGED ABOUT, here is a 1997 version of the story courtesy of About.com's Urban Legends page. Neiman Marcus has thoughtfully created a chocolate chip cookie recipe and posted it HERE. I'm going to make these later today - I'll post the results. I'm sharing the recipe here for convenience sake (and because Neiman said it was okay in the note that accompanied the recipe:

An urban myth is a modern folk tale, its origins unknown, its believability enhanced simply by the frequency with which it is repeated. Our signature chocolate chip cookie is the subject of one such myth. If you haven't heard the story, we won't perpetuate it here. If you have, the recipe below should serve to refute it. Copy it, print it out, pass it along to friends and family. It's a terrific recipe. And it's absolutely free.

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)

2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.

3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.

4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

****10:18pm update:

The cookies are awesome. I don't ever make cookies in the "low and slow" (300 degrees for 20 minutes) method - but it totally worked here. Yum.